Yossi Abu (; born December 7, 1977) is an Israeli businessman. He is chief executive officer of NewMed Energy (formerly Delek Drilling) of the

Delek Delek Group () is an Israeli holding conglomerate mainly operating in the petroleum industry. Delek Group's largest subsidiary is Delek – The Israel Fuel Corporation, one of the largest chains of filling stations in Israel. Delek Group also ...

corporation. He was an adviser of

Minister of Finance A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfolio ...

Roni Bar-On Roni Bar-On (; born 2 June 1948) is an Israeli politician and lawyer. He served as a member of the Knesset for Likud and Kadima between 2003 and 2011, and is also a former Finance Minister of Israel, Minister of Finance. Biography Bar-On was bo ...

Biography

Yossi Abu was born in the

Jerusalem District The Jerusalem District (; ) is one of the six administrative districts of Israel. The district capital is Jerusalem and its total land area is 652 km2. The population of 1,159,900 is 66.3% Jewish and 32.1% Arab. A fifth (21%) of the Arab ...

. Abu has a bachelor's degree in law from the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...

, which he graduated with honors, and he completed an internship in law at the lawyer's office

Yigal Arnon Yigal Arnon (; December 9, 1929 – April 27, 2014) was an Israeli lawyer and founder of Yigal Arnon & Co. Biography Yigal Arnon received his LL.M. degree from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1953, and was admitted to the Israel Bar ...

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

Public service and business career

In 2007–2009 Abu was an adviser to the Israeli Minister of Finance,

(of the 17th Knesset of Israel). In March 2009 he was appointed to Commerce and Regulations manager at Delek Energy. In 2011 he was promoted to the position of NewMed Energy (Delek Drilling) CEO. Abu led the development of the

Tamar gas field The Tamar gas field is a natural gas field in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Israel. The field is located in Israel's exclusive economic zone, roughly west of Haifa in waters deep. The Tamar field is considered to have proven reserves ...

, which was the first major off-shore natural gas finding in Israel, and today generates more than 60% of Israel's electricity. In 2010, he led the exploratory project that led to the discovery of the

Leviathan Leviathan ( ; ; ) is a sea serpent demon noted in theology and mythology. It is referenced in several books of the Hebrew Bible, including Psalms, the Book of Job, the Book of Isaiah, and the pseudepigraphical Book of Enoch. Leviathan is of ...

Natural Gas reservoir – one of the world's largest offshore gas findings in recent years. He led the financing of the Leviathan Project in the amount of $1.75 billion (The total investment in the first stage of the project was $3.75 billion), and the negotiations with Jordan and Egypt on signing regional export agreements of natural gas from Tamar and Leviathan Reservoirs with an estimated worth of $15 billion. In 2016–2017, he was also CEO of Avner Oil and Gas until its merger with NewMed Energy (Delek Drilling) was signalized <-. From 2017 Abu is chair of Tamar petroleum (resigned during the year 2019) and as of 2018 he is also CEO of Delek Energy. In September 2021, he signed the sale of Newmed Energy's holdings (22%) in the

to the Emirati's Mubadala Petroleum. The total value of the transaction is estimated at 1.1 billion dollars, and it is considered the largest commercial agreement signed between the United Arab Emirates and Israel since the signing of the Abraham Agreement in September 2020. With the sale of the holdings, NewMed Energy fully fulfilled its obligation in the gas plan, which was approved by the government. In August 2022, Abu signed a memorandum of understanding with Enlight on a joint venture to establish green energy projects in Egypt, the United Arab Emirates,

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

and more. Abu also leads the partnership for trading on the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

References

External links

Yossi abu's profile
on the Delek drilling website
Israel looks to new Arab allies to export gas in volatile region

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

, July 22, 2016 {{DEFAULTSORT:Abu, Yossi 1977 births Living people Israeli chief executives 21st-century Israeli Jews Hebrew University of Jerusalem Faculty of Law alumni People from Jerusalem District People in the petroleum industry